This sale is the summer version of Black Friday and has been extended to four more countries this year

Amazon Prime Day offers big savings on a range of products exclusively to its Prime members, so you would need to create an Amazon Prime account before July 16 to qualify.

This sale will begin at 12pm on July 16 until midnight on July 17.

Smart gadgets, such as the Amazon Echo Dot, are rising in popularity (Photo: Amazon)

However, sale items have already started to surface on the site, with bargains including discounts on Prime video rentals, purchases and channels, and 20% off the company’s AmazonBasics range.

During Amazon Prime Day itself, not all of the products included in the sale will be discounted at the same time and not all will be for the duration of the event.

Some products will be only be available during certain hours and some are likely to sell out quickly.

What products will be on sale?

Although the retailer remains tight-lipped over the specific deals that will be included in the sale, past deals have included big-ticket items in electronics and technology.

As well as TVs and laptops, there are usually big savings on books, smartphones and popular DVD box sets.

Last year the stand out best seller for most countries was the ECHO Dot and in the UK, the Oral-B Smart Series Electric Toothbrush topped the list.

In previous years Amazon has also given its Prime members exclusive deals on speakers, headphones, vinyl, record players and more.

There is currently a deal on offer which includes 4 months of Prime Music for just 99p, which is usually £9.99 a month, or £7.99 a month for Amazon Prime members.

This deal allows you to use the app to listen to 40 million songs anywhere you go and also works with Alexa devices like the Echo. This offer expires on July 31.

How to shop on Amazon Prime Day - even without a Prime membership

If you don’t already have an Amazon Prime account you can sign up for £79 annually, or £7.99 per month.

However, if you don’t want to commit to the annual service and would like to test it out first, you can try out a 30-day free trial

This allows you to try before you buy and also take part in Amazon Prime Day. After your free trial, Amazon Prime is just £7.99 per month, but this can be cancelled at any time.

All Prime deals will be clearly marked on the items with a blue sign underneath, which will indicate that these products are included in the event.

In order to prepare for Amazon Prime Day, the retailer is advising that anyone with an Amazon Prime account should install the Amazon Assistant, which is available on desktops and mobiles.

The Amazon Assistant will give you notifications on which deals are starting and Amazon is advising customers to start early, adding items that they're interested in to a list ahead of Prime Day in order to help compare the best deals available.

But remember to check the deals are actually good discounts

While Amazon is more reliable than a lot of online retailers, it’s still worth checking if you’re actually getting a bargain.

Use a free price tracker like Camelcamelcamel.com to check how many times an item’s price has changed, as well as the retailers on Amazon offering the highest and lowest prices.

After all, some third parties sell products more cheaply than Amazon itself.